Coastal Governance Index 2015

The Coastal Governance Index is an Economist Intelligence Unit report, commissioned by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and California Environmental Associates. Hilary Steiner and Jimena Serrano were the project managers. The quantitative index underlying this report measures the extent of government regulation and management across 20 key ocean economies to assess the state of play in the environment for effective coastal governance. It is based on wide-ranging desk research and comprised of 24 indicators and 43 sub-indicators across six thematic categories: policy and institutional capacity; business environment for coastal activities; water quality; minerals and energy; land; and living resources. The categories, and the individual criteria within them, are weighted according to neutral weights reflecting our assumption that countries should do well across all criteria in order to have the foundation for successful coastal governance. The methodology and all indicators are discussed in detail in the methodology chapter of this report. The Economist Intelligence Unit bears sole responsibility for the content of this report. The findings do not necessarily reflect the views of the commissioning organisations.